(24-05-2016, 12:24 PM)Baldric Wrote: Any one care to share more on local proxy to invest in US stocks?
I'm interested in it, currently I have DBS vickers and trade SG stocks only.
but I like to buy Berkshire stocks and go to sleep.
Hi,
I use both DBS Vickers (only for SG stocks, few large lots) and StanChart (US and Europe Stocks, frequent trades and accumulations).
Opened both accounts at the same time. A few factors I considered while I rounded up these two.
User Interface:
DBS Vickers - Excellent. Easy Navigation, Can't complain.
StanChart - Very very bad.
So bad that the prices on the landing screen are a day old. It's almost Sunday now, and the price for GOOG is of Thursday Close!
And that's not the worst part. The search is terrible. No lookups for stock name/codes available. You have to type a few letters, hit submit and the results would appear a couple of seconds later. Of course, the price isn't updated as well. You'll have to hit a button called 'Refresh with real time feeds'.
Absolutely Zero reporting options - Nothing on Profit or Tax or even Brokerage charges. You'll have to figure out by clicking each trade transaction.
And finally if you want to have a look at the charts - let me just say charts in Excel have more life in them.
Currency conversion charges (SGD to USD), when you make the transfer:
DBS Vickers - DBS has competitive charges, usually around ~0.9% off the USDSGD market rate.
StanChart - I don't know if there's a service charge, but each time I sent, it's around 1.1% off the USDSGD market rate.
Mobile:
DBS Vickers - An app exists, although I've never used it for placing a trade.
Stanchart - None. The Banking App SC doesn't have any link to the Trading account.
Now the more decisive factors to consider:
Central Depository:
DBS Vickers - Opens a CDP account and deposits your stocks in them. Charges you S$2 per stock/per month (capped at S$150/Yr), waived off if you do a certain number of minimum trades.
StanChart - Does NOT deposit your stocks with any depository. It holds them, so your trust and risk is with StanChart.
Trade charges:
DBS Vickers - Charges S$25 per trade (or 0.28%) whichever is higher, plus a marginal CDP and/or Exchange fees as applicable. There are a host of many other charges (including a Dividend collection charge, a min $4 for each dividend!!)
https://www.dbs.com.sg/vickers/en/pricin...n_04122014
StanChart - 0.2% for SG and 0.25% for other markets, plus exchange fees as applicable.
https://www.sc.com/sg/personal-banking/i...-services/
Despite all of SC's shortcomings (there's not one feature I could say I'm proud of. Even the SMS verification code takes it's happy 5 seconds to arrive), the only reason I stuck to SC was the price. A USD 1000 trade had charges of just 0.28% or $2.8. The breakeven with DBSV would happen only if your trade value is around USD 10,000
But this might change soon, come 1.Aug, SC is revising it's charges to a minimum of $10 (or 2.5% (in individual currencies S$/USD).
Bottomline: Despite a fantastic trading experience, trading with DBSV is a rip-off. SC trading experience is so 1990's, and there is a risk with not depositing with CDP (I don't think StanChart can have a Lehman moment).
Soon the frustration and the risk awareness may catch up, but for now SC is still the cheapest brokerage in Singapore, and my investing style of accumulating on dips leaves me no other choice.
Thoughts/suggestions welcome.